NHS waiting lists have sky-rocketed to a new record high amid warnings that the health service is already at ‘breaking point’ before winter pressures have even kicked-in.
Official figures show 7.1million people in England were in the queue for routine hospital treatment, such as hip and knee operations, by the end of September — the equivalent of one in eight people. The figure includes more than 400,000 people who have been waiting, often in pain, for over one year.
The figures reflect the situation before winter pressures, such as an expected rise in Covid and flu admissions, have been felt in hospitals. And it comes ahead of industrial action by NHS nurses, which is expected to see days thousands of operations and treatments cancelled as the NHS is reduced to a ‘bank holiday’ service on strike days.
The number of people waiting more than 12 hours in A&E departments in England from a decision to admit to actually being admitted has risen to a new record high.
New NHS England data shows that 43,792 people waited longer than 12 hours in October, up 34 per cent from 32,776 in September and the highest number in records going back to August 2010.
The number waiting at least four hours from the decision to admit to admission also reached a new peak of 150,922 in October, up from 131,861 the previous month.
A total of 69.3 of patients in England were seen within four hours in A&Es last month, the worst performance on record and the first time it has dropped below 70 per cent.
The operational standard is that at least 95 per cent of patients attending A&E should be admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours, but this has not been met nationally since 2015.
The NHS England waiting list soared to 7.1million in September, the highest ever figure
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